Overview

Offering an excellent overview of critical approaches to international payment systems, this open access volume re-introduces the contemporary relevance, origins and aims of the International Clearing Union (ICU), a concept associated with J. M. Keynes and with debates of continued contemporary importance to global political economy. This volume focuses on how ICU proposals interact with economic theory and normative principles of ethics and politics. It examines key contemporary political issues including de-dollarisation, development, overcoming nationalism, principles of fairness in trade and finance, commodity pricing, fixed vs. floating exchange rates, capital controls, the need for planning, and global public investments, as well as urgent issues of climate emergency and ecological breakdown. As such, this important volume provides a wide range of perspectives from both the Global North and Global South, as well as from different disciplines including politics, economics and political theory. ‘The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The University of Helsinki.

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9781350574847

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Reviews

As the Trump presidency sets about collapsing the existing world order and China and the BRICs countries explore alternatives to the dollar, there is an urgent need for sound monetary alternatives to the system of a single sovereign reserve currency. That is why the publication of this book could not be more timely. Its contributors - monetary experts all - expound with considerable authority on sound alternatives to the imbalances and instability of the current world order. I recommend it highly to scholars, policymakers and those activists wanting to build a more peaceful world. * Ann Pettifor, Director Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME), UK * This edited volume on the pivotal importance of an international clearing union (of some form) to steer the current fast-fragmenting system of international economic governance away from the precipice of conflict could not come at a timelier moment. It is unique in rendering a potentially technical subject matter very accessible to a wide audience by combining a well-informed re-take on historical debates with a range of contemporary perspectives on ways forward - technically, politically and institutionally. It also stands out for its explicit consideration of the concerns of developing countries. In short, this is an absolute must for anyone, not just economists, with an interest in exploring ambitious yet also realistic proposals to achieve long over-due reforms of global economic governance that recognize past failures and that support the long-ignored ambitions and capabilities of developing countries, in the process. * Stephanie Blankenburg, Ms, UNCTAD, Switzerland *

Author Information

Heikki Patomäki is Professor of World Politics and Global Political Economy at the University of Helsinki. His recent books are World Statehood (2023); Debating the War in Ukraine (with T.Forsberg, 2023), and The Three Fields of Global Political Economy (2022). He is a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and a Life Member of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge. Jamie Morgan is Professor of Economics at Leeds Beckett University. He co-edits the Real-World Economics Review with Edward Fullbrook. He has published widely in the fields of economics, political economy, philosophy, sociology and international politics.

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